I'd Like to Phone a Friend

I had no idea what to do about Melanie’s disappearance or the new revelation that there are apparently such a thing as wood nymphs, which I thought perhaps someone should’ve told me about prior to me being introduced to one. Standing there in the middle of the forest, in the middle of the night, on a school night, mind you, I was growing more and more frustrated by the second.

I finally decided I needed help with this, so I materialized a cell phone and called Maggie. She was the only person I could think of who might be able to help me, and I figured it was the middle of the day in France so at least I wouldn’t be waking her up.

She answered pretty quickly, probably recognizing that it had to be urgent for me to be calling her at that time. “Hi, Harlow. What’s going on?” she asked, a tinge of nervousness in her voice.